In many embedded control systems, and other computing systems, movement of data between peripheral devices and a host, or between peripheral devices, may be a significant amount of data traffic on the various buses that may exist in such systems. Moreover, some of this data traffic may include information related to events that occur and timing of these events.
In conventional inter-chip communication, one approach is to communicate such event information on dedicated lines signaling the events to manage the timing of the event communication. However, there is typically an extra cost for additional lines. The cost of adding lines might be high and even be prohibitive due to layout constraints. Another approach is to send the event information as soon as possible as the next communication packet on a serial communication link. However, this approach may lose important event details, for example, timing details about when an actual event occurred. Other deficiencies and limitations in these and other approaches may exist.
There is a need for communication of events and event timing details on serial communication links to indicate relative timing of events between a master and one or more slaves.